Vladis too was startled by the sudden cry of the rat. Well, it was more of the manner in which the rat repeated itself. The cry was so desperate and intense but nothing about the rodent’s stance reflected such emotion. It was … unnerving to say the least. The rat just sat there calm as can be before and after such an intense display of feeling. Vladis’ fur bristled, puffing out even further. Ears flatted instinctively against his head.

After a moment, the chick erupted into near hysterics at the rodent’s talent. It was hard to tell which was more annoying; the chick fluttering about in near panic or the fact that that damn rodent was still at his den.

He decided the rat was (barely) and turned to the chick. “Yeah, freaky beasties aren’t they? Damn things mimic most anything. And they usually pick the creepiest stuff they can.” He added as a low grumble.

With a deep breath, he tried to relax his posture. Then he erupted with a cry of his own. “WHY YOU STILL HERE, YOU FLEA BAG?!” His eye socket began to sting a little at the shout. The rat wiggled his nose, ears twitched as though registering something new, but otherwise seemed unconcerned with Vladis’ obvious discontent.

Tag: @Crescendo
Note: That's a cool link!

So the rats couldn't talk, they really were just mimicking her. That was... a relief, she guessed, but also really creepy. She could tell her voice sounded weird and wrong, but Vladis seemed to think there wasn't anything off about the mimicry. So creepy.

Vladis started shouting at the third rat - well, the only rat now - but it just stared at him. Oh, and twitched its nose. Why was it being so creepy? Why hadn't it left with the other rats? Crescendo had the sudden urge to go poke it - but no, that was a terrible idea. What if it attacked? "Why won't you go away?" she asked, still half-convinced that the rat could talk.

@Vladis

The rat looked from one to the other curiously, before slowly turning to go slink away. At least, that’s what the plan was. Then it suddenly stopped in its tracks and stared point blank at the raccoon dog. A shiver appeared to run down the rat’s spine as its fur bristled and its nose stopped twitching.

It wasn’t the only one that was acting a bit strangely. Vladis had stiffened up while staring at the rodent. His bad eye twitched as the socket became a bit itchy. Magic swelled up in his fool’s gold stone. It was similar to when he made his fur change colors, but the magic was more localized. At least at first. He felt the magic travel up along the nerves that should have connected to an eye where there one there, travelled up his brain stem and coating his mind. It was a strange feeling, an itch inside his skull.

Then it suddenly stopped. Vladis shook his head to shake the strange feeling away. At that same time, the rat turned and took a step towards the raccoon dog.

“Did you do something?” The tanuki’s head was suddenly filled with a soft, feminine voice. He looked around a bit confused, trying to find the source of the sound. It wasn’t like the chick’s, it was older. But that was the only female around so it had to be her’s.

“What was that you said, Lorenzo?” the tanuki asked, turning to face the chick. His head cocked a bit while looking at her. What he didn’t see was the rodent lowering and shaking her head in disbelief.

“Oh hell. I’m stuck with an idiot.” The strange voice muttered.

“Now who you be callin’ an idiot!?” Vladis growled softly in response.

Tag: @Crescendo
Note: Vladis is, indeed, an idiot. XD

Crescendo breathed a sigh of relief as the rat began to leave.

Key word being 'began'.

Suddenly, it froze and stared right at Vladis. Crescendo wanted to scream, whether in horror, surprise, or frustration she didn't know. The rat shivered, its fur bristling, and Vladis stiffened. Oh no! The rat was doing something creepy again! As much as her curiosity wanted to wait and see what happened, she couldn't let that rat hurt Vladis!

Crescendo puffed out her chest down and spread her wings, trying to look intimidating. But before she could get a word out of her mouth, Vladis turned toward her, speaking to an invisible person called Lorenzo. She was too late! The effects had already started... but she had to prevent them from worsening! As Vladis babbled to himself (or the nonexistent Lorenzo, she wasn't sure which), she clacked her beak and hissed at the rat, making herself look as big as possible. "I don't know what you've done to Vladis to make him like this, but let him go right now or you'll be sorry!"

@Vladis

The echoing grey rat turned towards the young chick who had puffed up and spread their small wings out. The rodent cocked its head slightly before understanding appeared on her face. The chick was trying to protect its new friend. While it was an unnecessary action, the rat felt it was one that should be encouraged. One day it may be someone else more dangerous, after all. The rat lowered herself to lie down on the ground as non-threatening as she could appear.

“You there, large creature…. Tanuki?” A pause was given as the information came to her. The rat didn’t understand fully, but his mind became open to her, as was intelligence.

Vladis was about to speak again but was cut off. “I am not the chick. Think for a moment, do I sound like her?”

“Well, I suppose not...,” Vladis thought to himself. Little did he realize that the rat could understand his thoughts as the raccoon dog was not use to needing to shield them.

“Right,” she responded. “This is the rat. You did … something. I don’t know what. But we are linked now.”

Vladis turned towards the rat with interest now. “We’re linked now? What does that mean?” he mused aloud.

“I’m … not sure.”

“But that means I can control you now, right?”

There was an awkward pause before the rat responded. “… Yes. To a degree, it would seem.”

Vladis gave a sharp yelp of a cheer. “Hear that pipsqueak. I control this rat now. Finally, someone who’ll understand just how amazing I am! So don’t you worry none, little gal,” he added, turning towards the chick. “Ol’ Vladis here will make sure this critter won’t hurt ya. So no need to worry your pretty little beak about it.”

The rat simply lowered its head towards the ground. The raccoon dog beamed in pride at his accomplishment while assuming the act to be one showing her service and loyalty. So caught up in his thoughts was he that he missed hearing the faint inner voice mumbling, “Why me? I swear, he’s worse than those other two buffoons. Even the chick would have been better. What deity did I upset?”

Tag: @Creascendo
Note: I hope it's clear who's talking and thinking and stuff! >_<;;;

The rat tilted her head at Crescendo, then lowered itself - possibly to appear less threatening. Was it possible that this rat could understand speech? Slowly, the pigeon's downy feathers settled back into place and she folded her wings. She hopped closer, observing the rat curiously.

Vladis appeared to be engaging in conversation with it. But - she thought that the rats could only mimic real voices, not talk on their own, and that they didn't know what the words meant. What was the point of doing this?

Oh, wait. The rat was talking back! In words - Greater Gembound words that actually made sense in the context of Vladis' question. "You can talk? Can you understand me?" she questioned.

Oh, oh, new information. Vladis could control the rat. She'd never heard of such a thing being possible! Excitement lit up in her eyes. "To what extent? Can you control movement? Thoughts? Can she resist the control? Are you able to perform actions yourself while in control of her? What does it feel like? How hard do you have to fight for control if she doesn't want you to?" Questions streamed from her beak with absolutely no consideration given to the possibility that they might annoy Vladis or the rat. The ethics of such control were forgotten as well in her thirst for new knowledge - but, of course, Crescendo did not notice, and simply awaited Vladis' answers eagerly.

@Vladis

The rat visibly relaxed as the chick began to smooth their feathers out. A nod was given by the rodent in reply to the question on if she could understand them or not. Then the explosion of questions occurred from the chick. The echoing grey didn’t fully understand all that was being asked, the words tumbling out so quickly and her still being new to her higher intelligence. Though confused, she nonetheless smiled at the chick. Her obvious excitement about the situation warmed her heart.

Vladis, on the other paw, understood the questions being asked but had no real answers. He was still puzzled over how they become connected in the first place or how she was able to talk in his mind the way she was. It was all new and puzzling. He’d never heard of something like this before. Not that he talked with others all that much. Talking to others might get them to know too much, like about his precious treasure trove.

He couldn’t let her know all this though. Instead, he puffed out his chest to act as confidently as possible. “Now then, don’t you worry your pretty little head about it none. What’s important is that this rodent can’t hurt you none now.” He added a wink for emphasis. “Miss … ahhh, Ratty-“

“That is not my name.”

“-is gonna be as tame as can be now.” Vladis ignored the objection, moving right along with the conversation.

The tanuki sat down, eyeing the chick and ignoring the glare that the rat had given him. “Now then, what’s important here, little lady, is figuring out what you’re doing in a place like this all on your own?”


Speech. Thought. Ratty's Out Loud Ratty's Telepathy

Tag: @Crescendo
Notes: Just to clarify, all of Ratty's words are telepathic to Vladis.

Oh goodness! The rat smiled at her! Not only that, but it looked like it understood what a smile was supposed to mean! "But Vladis!" she protested when the tanuki told her not to worry. "I can't just not think about this! This is a major discovery! We have so much more to learn! And---"

Oh. My. God. Did he just call the rat Ratty?

It took all of Crescendo's inner strength to not fall over laughing. She might have let a few chuckles loose, though.

She still wanted to find out more about whatever had just happened! If Vladis would just be willing to do a couple of tests - Oh! Well, she could certainly answer his question. "I came to explore!" she declared proudly. "I came to satisfy my curiosity. To experiment and learn. To witness new things! To find out more! And maybe find someone that can answer all my questions! Like - does the huge pool of water in that other cave have a bottom? Where does all the water go? Where is all the water coming from? And more!"

The tests could wait for now! What if Vladis was the knowledgeable mentor she'd been seeking to teach her all along? And then she and Vladis and Ratty could all work together to unravel the secrets of the world! Wouldn't that be fun?!

@Vladis

Vladis eyed the young chick up and down, listening as patiently as he could to the series of questions that appeared to pour out of her beak. It was a curious thing. He was most certain that he hadn’t been as excitable as a hatchling. He nodded along as though paying attention to her curiosity.

Question after question just seemed to come from her. Were most hatchlings like this? Was it going to stop? Why on earth did she think that he would know this? Better question, why did she even care? It wasn’t like the bottom of the water had a treasure or anything. Or did it…? No, most likely not. Not like his treasures anyways. That’s what was important. So what was important now was making sure the pipsqueak didn’t get in the way and figuring out how this new rat could help him acquire more gems or other valuable items.

His thoughts returned to the chick. A loud sigh was released at noticing she was still going on. “Kid, kid. What difference does it make where the water goes? Does that help you get what you want in life? That’s just silly nonsense that could distract you from what’s really important.”

Ratty, on the other hand, was more perplexed but curious. Again, she wished that it was the chick she had bonded with instead of the tanuki. Such questions were most certainly outside of her scope of understanding but she marveled all the same at the chick’s ability to even question such things. As a plain rat, she had simply accepted that some things were just how they are. The idea to question where the water came from, for instance, would have never crossed her mind.

The rodent moved a few steps closer to the chick, looking Crescendo over carefully, before turning towards Vladis.

“Ask her where these thoughts come from.”

“I ain’t doin’ s###.”

“Just ask her!” Ratty repeated, bearing her front two teeth just slightly.

“Fine!” Vladis grumped in their heads before turning to the chick. “Ratty, here, finds you interesting. Or rather, that mouth of yours and all them questions you keep going on and on about.”


Speech. Thought. Ratty's Out Loud Ratty's Telepathy

Tag: @Crescendo
Notes:

Oh gosh! Oh my gosh! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! That was... that was really good advice! Really something worth thinking about! And gushing about verbally as well! "Oh my gosh!" Crescendo gasped. "I TOTALLY KNEW you were some kind of wise Gembound! What you just said right there? That was TOTALLY mysterious and wise sounding!" Having finished her praise, Crescendo fell silent to think over Vladis' words, clicking her beak thoughtfully on occasion.

"I think..." she began, after several minutes of quiet. "It makes a difference... because this is the world we live in. This is our world. What kind of sad, sorry creatures are we if we can't explain a huge, very noticeable everyday phenomenon? That waterfall? I bet that and the lake it goes into have been around for a loooooong time. If no one's figured it out and no one's trying - that's kinda sad, y'know? I mean, it's a major part of that room. How has no one been curious about it before? And even if they've been curious - why hasn't anyone tried to find out more? I mean, I'm just a tiny little pigeon. I can't dive to the bottom of that pool and find out. And I'm sure there are plenty of people who can't swim like that either. But we have magic! Magic! Is everyone just gonna hang around these caves doing nothing but chatting and having petty arguments with each other? There's so much more to be discovered!"

"Like these bones, for example. Is this place a mass graveyard or what? How many Gembound died to fill this place up with so many bones? There has to be a history behind this place. And like I said, this is our world. Our history. The first thing I remember is popping out of a rock. How is that even possible? How can life develop from something as dead as a rock? Who even are we if we don't even have knowledge of our own home? Our own history? Where we came from?"

Phew! That was a lot of talking. But in her opinion, it was all worth it. Also, ha! Vladis and Ratty's facial expressions were just hilarious. What kind of a name was Ratty, anyway? Crescendo still wanted to laugh just thinking about it. "Aww," she cooed at the rat. "I'm interesting, huh? Thanks so much. You're so adorable." Granted, the rat was way bigger than she was. But that didn't make it not adorable!

@Vladis